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Marriage · Retirement · Family · Extensions

The Non-Immigrant O visa

The Non-Immigrant O visa is the visa most foreign spouses, parents of Thai children and retirees live on. It is really two steps: a 90-day visa from an embassy, then a one-year extension of stay from a Thai immigration office, renewed every year. Here is who qualifies, the money rules, and how the extension works.

What the O covers

“O” stands for other: it is the Non-Immigrant visa for reasons that are not work, study or investment. The common grounds are:

  • Marriage to a Thai national.
  • A Thai child: being the parent of a Thai child, and supporting them.
  • Retirement, for people aged 50 and over.
  • Dependants of a foreigner who works in Thailand on a work permit: the spouse and children.
  • Volunteering with an approved organisation, supported by the Thai government agency that oversees it.
  • Visiting Thai family, for shorter stays.

Getting the visa

You apply abroad through the Thai e-Visa site, uploading the documents the embassy for your country asks for. A Non-O usually gives a single entry with a stay of 90 days. The money rules at this stage are the embassy’s own and differ from country to country: the embassy in Washington, for example, asks retirement applicants for a balance of USD 30,000 or an income of USD 2,500 a month, and people visiting Thai family for USD 15,000 or USD 1,500 a month. Check the page of the embassy you will apply to.

The O-A is a separate long-stay retirement visa, also applied for abroad, which gives a year straight away but needs health insurance. The O-X is a ten-year retirement visa open to fourteen nationalities. Both are summed up in the immigration overview.

The one-year extension

Before your 90 days run out, you apply at the immigration office for the province where you live for an extension of stay of up to one year, on the same grounds as the visa. The fee is 1,900 baht. If it is granted you renew it in the same way every year; in the meantime you still make 90-day reports, and you need a re-entry permit to travel.

The money rules

GroundsMoney in a Thai bankOr monthly income
Retirement (50 and over)800,000 baht, in the account for 2 months before you apply and kept there for 3 months after approval; it may then fall, but never below 400,000 baht65,000 baht, or income and savings together of 800,000 baht a year
Marriage to a Thai400,000 baht, in the account for the 2 months before you apply40,000 baht
Parent of a Thai child400,000 baht, as for marriage40,000 baht
Dependant of a work-permit holderThe worker’s work permit and a letter from the employer showing a salary of at least 40,000 baht a month

Money must be in an account in your own name at a Thai bank, and offices ask for a letter from the bank dated the day you apply, with an updated passbook. Income is shown with proof of regular transfers from abroad or, where your embassy still issues one, an income letter; what is accepted varies by nationality and by office. The Bangkok office reads the combined retirement route slightly differently from the national text on how far the balance may fall, which is another reason to ask your own office.

What to bring

  • The application form TM.7, a photograph, the fee, your passport and copies of its photo page, visa, latest entry stamp and arrival record.
  • Proof of address, such as the TM.30 receipt your landlord or spouse filed, and a rental contract or house registration.
  • The bank letter and passbook, or proof of income.
  • For marriage: the Thai marriage registration (Kor Ror 2) and marriage record (Kor Ror 3), your spouse’s ID card and house registration, and photographs of the two of you at home; Bangkok asks for four, two inside and two outside, and a map to the house. Your spouse usually comes with you.
  • For a Thai child: the birth certificate and proof that you are the parent and support the child.
  • For volunteering: the organisation’s Thai registration, its invitation and the supporting government agency’s letter.

Making it go smoothly

  • Start early. Offices take applications only in the weeks before your stay ends, so ask yours how early you may come, and have the money in place for the full two months before that.
  • Sign every copy; Thai offices expect each photocopy to be signed by the person it belongs to.
  • Keep the money where it should be after approval: at the next renewal, the office will look at the passbook for the whole year.
  • Keep your address up to date. A move means a new TM.30 by your new landlord, and a residence certificate if you need proof of your address for other offices.

Sources

Checked against the sources below. Rules, fees and dates change, sometimes at short notice: confirm with your immigration office or a Thai embassy before you rely on them.

Questions people ask

Can I get a Non-O retirement extension before I am 50?

No. The retirement grounds for a Non-O visa and its extension start at 50. Younger foreigners married to a Thai, or with a Thai child, can use those grounds instead, with the 400,000 baht or 40,000 baht a month test.

Can I work on a Non-O visa?

Not without a work permit, and a retirement extension is meant for people who do not work. Spouses of Thai nationals can apply for a work permit on their Non-O like other Non-Immigrant visa holders; ask the Department of Employment before you take a job.

Do I need health insurance for a Non-O retirement extension?

The published rules for extending a plain Non-O on retirement grounds do not require it. The O-A visa, applied for from abroad, does: current embassy pages ask for cover of at least 3,000,000 baht or USD 100,000. Check again before you apply, because the insurance rules have changed several times.

Does my one-year extension let me travel abroad?

Only with a re-entry permit, bought before you leave: 1,000 baht for one trip or 3,800 baht for several. Without one, the extension ends when you leave and you would have to start again with a new visa.

Related

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